209. Слово в день вoсшecтвия на всероссийский престол Государя Императора Николая Павловича

(Said in the cathedral church of the Chudov Monastery on November 20, printed in the Works of the Holy Father of 1847 and in the collection of 1848) It is written: My house is a house of prayer. (Luke 19:46). Who among us does not know that the place where we are now is a house of prayer and a house of God? However, I think it is not untimely to now bring to mind that the significant name “house of prayer” and the lofty name “house of God” is not only given to this place by the Prophet, but also recognized by the incarnate Truth itself, our Lord Jesus Christ, “the verb: it is written: My house is a house of prayer.” The more desirable for us is the special subject of our present prayer - the calling of new blessings of God for the renewed royal summer of our Most Pious Autocrat: the more useful and pleasant it is to bear in mind the firm assurance that our prayer is not on a dark and unknown path, does not stretch out from afar arms that are out of reach and voices that may not reach the ears, but converses with God in his own and God's house, therefore close, free, clearly audible, reliable. Let us make clear to ourselves the quick and faithful action of church, and especially royal and popular prayer in the church, by means of an ancient example. During the sudden invasion of the kingdom of Judah by three hostile nations, “one hundred Jehoshaphat was in the assembly of Judah in Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord,” and brought a unanimous prayer with the people to God, recognizing his weakness, and calling on His help against the enemies: “we know not what the imams should do to them: but only our eyes are towards Thee.” The prayer had barely been uttered when God’s favorable answer to it was heard from the lips of Jaziel. “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in the midst of the people, and he said: Hear all Judah, and you that dwell in Jerusalem, and you, unto King Jehoshaphat: This saith the Lord unto you: Do not be afraid, nor be terrified at the sight of this great people, for it is not your army, but God’s.” The next day, when Jehoshaphat and his army went to meet the enemies, singing sacred songs, civil strife occurred in the camp of enemies of different tribes; they destroyed each other; The Jews only had to gather the spoils (2 Chronicles 20). If this is how prayer acted in the church of the vestibule and fortune-telling: then should one less expect revealed and embodied Truth from it in the church? If she dared and succeeded in this way where the terrible Law reigned, is it not even more so here, where merciful Grace has set her throne? The Incarnate Son of God taught prayer by word and example; encouraged her; paved and made easier for her the path to God, with His intercession for us, which does not stop now, and will not stop until the end of the century; and, inspiring to asceticism with the desired fruit of asceticism, He gave Christian conciliar prayer an empowering promise: “Amen, I say to you: if two of you take counsel on earth concerning every thing that anyone asks, it will be received from My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 18:19). “For every thing he even asks for”: - what a vast, what, one might say, unlimited authority! “It will be from the Father who is in heaven”: - what a lofty and, obviously, irresistible authority by any other authority! And what is said in the promise about the smallest conciliar number: “if two of you confer”: this is so that a small church council, out of need, does not consider itself too insufficient to participate in the promise of the Lord, and so that the great council would even more so trust in the promise. Do you want to see this promise in fulfillment, this authority in full action? Look at the original Apostolic Church. After one of the first, successful sermons, all the Jerusalem authorities rebelled against the Apostles. They are thrown into prison; then, taking from it, they interrogate the princes, elders and scribes in the cathedral, and threateningly forbid them to teach about the name of Jesus. The storm is strong. The newly planted Christianity was in danger of not only being shaken, but also being uprooted. We needed extraordinary support, special reinforcement from above. “And when they prayed, they moved to the place where they gathered together, and were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). “The place where the people gathered” was obviously a house of prayer and the house of God internally, although it was not yet time to exalt it externally and cover it with a cross, as we have now. At another time, “Peter was kept by the guard in prison: and prayer was diligent from the Church to God for him” (Acts 12:5). What did this church prayer do? The fact that the Angel released Peter from his shackles, and through the locked doors, past the guards, led him out of prison to freedom. Is it necessary to say more in order to arouse the restful confidence that the names of the house of prayer and the house of God are not just honorary names superficially applied to an object, but express something essential in the object, although not always and not revealed to everyone? It seems that we all know that in the house of prayer, in the church cathedral, there is a special gracious proximity of the omnipresent God; that in the house of God there is a mysterious dwelling of an inconceivable God: that in this house, rich in the goodness of the Lord of the House, more than anywhere else, treasures of gifts, benefits, blessings, mercies, consolations, light, strength, life, salvation are accumulated, and the children and associates of this house are given the key to these treasures prayer of faith. It seems that we all know the dignity and importance of the house of God, as our meeting itself testifies to this, and the general image of reverence that prevails in this meeting. But I said not entirely decisively: it seems that we all know; – and, unfortunately, I have reasons for this. When, from the proper prayerful exaltation to God, or out of weakness and amusement, my thoughts fall on myself and on those around me, or, due to the duty that lies upon me to protect the rite of the church, I pay testing attention to the servants and those present in the church; when I notice that we, who serve the sanctuary, sometimes do not serve as a model for others in reverence for the sanctuary; when I hear a reader hastily running through a psalm, or a singer playing with sounds, without signs of spiritual attention to what is being read or sung; when I see some standing before the King of Heaven with less reverence than they would stand before an earthly King, who came to talk with God, talking instead with each other, and in this situation I see not the kind of people who could be excused by the prophetic word: “They are ignorant and violent” (Jer. 5:4); when he who is tempted by the untimely word of his neighbor, apparently cares not about not angering God by lack of reverence in the church, and not about keeping his neighbor from disrespect, but about not offending by silence the one who invites idle talk: with such views, I would like not to believe what is visible, and I wonder what this means? Do we know where and why we came? Do we know that this is the house of God? Or do we not want to use his treasures? Is it really the case that the worshipers of the Temple of Jerusalem should in any way concede advantage to the worshipers of some mountain of Samaria, who, not having such a shrine, and even “bowing down, do not know it” (John 4:22), nevertheless strictly observe order and silence during prayer? Understand what is said in the parable, which would be bitter to say without the parable. In order not to exaggerate the accusations, justice requires that we say that the sometimes imperfect form of decorum and reverence in our churches does not appear as an expression of impiety, but only as a consequence of the lack of strict attention and dissatisfied vigilance of some over themselves. However, if someone asked: is it worth the trouble to pursue such errors as late entry into a house of prayer, or an unnecessary word spoken during a service? - then I would answer that it is necessary, if possible, to eliminate errors, so that sins and iniquities do not come after them and take up residence. Let us turn to the Gospel and see what crimes our Lord pursued when, “entering the Church, they began to drive out those who sold and bought in it, saying to them: It is written: My house is a house of prayer, but you will make its cave a robber” (Luke 19:45–46)? What kind of people came to the Temple of Jerusalem, and how did they turn it into a cave of robbers? Are these pagans? Did they desecrate the church by serving idols? Not at all. It was the Orthodox Jews, for convenience, who sold and bought what was needed in the church for worship, oxen, sheep, doves for sacrifice, and exchanged money so that those who were sorry to put a large coin in the church treasure could find a small one for this - and this was done not in the sanctuary, but in the courtyard of the church. We, looking at this, would perhaps doubt whether it is necessary to pursue indecency, which is not entirely easy to avoid, and which has its own benefits? But the Lord persecutes this disgrace not only with words, but also with a scourge from ropes, and calls it the transformation of the church into a cave of robbers. After this, we must admit that it cannot be considered very innocent when, not in the courtyard of the church, but in the Christian church itself, in the face of the shrine itself, absent-mindedness and man-pleasing exchange greetings with each other, and buy useless answers to idle questions. I do not threaten anyone with the scourge of the Lord. My feat is not to expel anyone from the church, but to preserve all of you for the church as its decoration. If even this small word seems to someone like a small scourge: let it threaten us more, who, in fairness, are subject to greater severity: and you calmly evade what deserves the blows of the word. Let us remember the word of Solomon: “Better than reproof is revealed love” (Proverbs 27:5). Let us love reproof. If we have not earned them, the more calmly we can listen to them, and they will help us so as not to deserve them in the future; if, by misfortune, we deserve it, they will help us improve. Thank God that the attraction to the house of God remains in us! Let us be vigilantly attentive to making our stay in the house of God more worthy of it, more perfect, and all the more fruitful and saving. I recall with consolation the example by which the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor precedes us in reverence for the house of God. How he loves to build the houses of God! From time to time you yourself witness how reverently He stands before the Lord in the church! How steadily he looks towards the altar! How attentively he follows prayers for what is pleasing to Him, and accompanies them with the sign of the cross! How humbly he bows before the shrine! Let us unite mentally with Him in our present prayer; may all our hearts merge into a single prayer censer; may love for the King and faith in God unite to ignite the spiritual incense of prayer; and may she ascend from the earthly house of God into the heavenly; and may a new blessing descend on the kingdom of our Most Pious Autocrat; May it always be well-governed within by pious wisdom and righteousness, protected from the outside by security, abundantly provided with the means of prosperity, and may we live a quiet and silent life under the shadow of His throne in all piety and purity! ( 1 Timothy 2:2 ) Amen. You might be interested in: